tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post2426223969593213448..comments2024-03-28T17:08:15.784-07:00Comments on Social Democracy for the 21st Century: A Realist Alternative to the Modern Left: Britain should abandon the Neoliberal Train Wreck that is the EU Lord Keyneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-48954767078055861982016-02-24T15:34:09.238-08:002016-02-24T15:34:09.238-08:00I thought anatine collineation was an American thi...I thought anatine collineation was an American thing. Ken Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08207803092348071005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-59844185788701822062016-02-24T14:08:30.347-08:002016-02-24T14:08:30.347-08:00Poetic justice indeed. I believe the Ghaith LRB ar...Poetic justice indeed. I believe the Ghaith LRB article is correct, as suggested by the recent revelations that the Commission has been working behind the scenes with a plan to seal off the Macedonian border - in order to punish Greece again, this time for its 'lax' border control.<br /><br />I did not know about the Commission's latest skulduggery when I posted my anonymous comment on 21 January (couldn't get the link to my Google account to work) but Ghaith seemed a very credible source.Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10016748298615461581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-68366781836125830152016-02-24T05:06:02.231-08:002016-02-24T05:06:02.231-08:00If the UK leaves the EU, Scotland leaves the UK. I...If the UK leaves the EU, Scotland leaves the UK. Is that a problem?Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17386123430230365251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-62411614581431317362016-02-23T19:27:41.402-08:002016-02-23T19:27:41.402-08:00LK,
This paper is doing the rounds as the reason ...LK,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.robert-schuman.eu/en/doc/questions-d-europe/qe-355-en.pdf" rel="nofollow">This paper is doing the rounds</a> as the reason why Brexit is impossible. <br /><br />I'm going to do a post on the hidden assumption in all these documents - that the UK presses the button on 24th June without any prior preparation in place. <br /><br />Since withdrawal from the EU is *entirely* at the discretion of the member state it is for that member state to decide when *and if* it activates Article 50. You'll note that all disaster scenarios start from that point without describing what would happen prior to that. <br /><br />Good planning says you get all your ducks in a row first. <br />NeilWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11565959939525324309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-21578048121201196232016-02-23T11:16:03.879-08:002016-02-23T11:16:03.879-08:00There are so many advantages for the left for leav...There are so many advantages for the left for leaving the EU its insane.<br /><br />Once we leave the EU the restrictions on State Aid and access to the Bank of England are lifted. Along with the requirement to compensate capitalists if we nationalise industries.<br /><br />So once we leave the EU we can nationalise the railways for a £1, nationalise the banks and cancel all the PFI contracts. And we can stop paying money to China on Gilts by using the 'Ways and Means' overdraft facility at the Bank of England instead.<br /><br />The question for those wishing to remain in the EU is why they think we should have to pay millions to capitalists to recover assets that were stolen from us. Why we should have to maintain PFI contracts that are closing A&E departments and why we have to continue to pay millions in interest to foreigners when we don't need to.<br /><br />And that's before we get onto the benefits of a government freed from the EU treaty shackles - direct investment and support of industry, a full job guarantee for all. House building and rated pensions.<br /><br />But importantly controlled borders - so that we can maintain the British tradition of treating everybody resident within our borders the same, whether native or invited here on Visa or by EU passport.<br /><br />A vote for the EU is a vote for treating migrants differently to natives. And that is a racist position.<br /><br />The issue at hand is whether unskilled and semi-skilled people in the EU *who wouldn't otherwise get a visa or asylum* in the UK should be permitted to come into the UK to work.<br /><br />If you separate out that set of people, then you find that *at best* they don't reduce the wage at that level of work and at worst they do reduce the wage at that level of work.<br /><br />But far more important than that they don't *increase* the wage a resident is going to get for a job, nor do they *increase* the chance of a resident getting a job.<br /><br />Given that we are not creating sufficient housing, nor improving our schools and hospitals to cope with the influx (e.g the level of language support and functional skills required in my local primary school is not something that is attracting additional central government funding), then the actual real costs of immigration are simply not in the figures.<br /><br />And then there is the impact on existing immigrant communities. There was a big spread on the front of the local Asian newspaper about how local curry houses may all have to close down because they can't get the immigrants from the sub-continent they need with the required skills. Unfortunately there aren't many skilled curry chefs in Romania.<br /><br />The excessive visa restrictions we have on the rest of the world - which are required to balance the lax ones in place to the EU - are stopping existing ethnic minority communities dealing fairly with parts of the world they originate from.<br /><br />Can somebody also tell Pro-EU nutjobs to read the outcome of the 1932 to 1937 anglo-irish trade war, and then ask themselves why the Irish wouldn't simply veto any restrictions on the UK that are likely to result in retaliation from the UK?<br /><br />Apparently Ireland will never use their veto and will definitely take another one for the project. But a big one this time. One that would make the Anglo-Irish trade war of the 1930s look like a walk in the park.<br /><br />I also don't buy the internationalist position that where you were born shouldn't limit where you can go. Unfortunately that fails on the logical point that we can't all fit into the same square mile in London. <br /><br />So there is a limit, and if there is a limit you either manage it, or you leave it to 'natural forces' or 'market forces'.<br /><br />We know that natural forces leads to 1841 Manchester and Cholera death pits. So why try to repeat the experiment? Randomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04445772572707818311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-50908584055754290672016-02-23T09:23:40.554-08:002016-02-23T09:23:40.554-08:00Can't say I agree with 4, but four out of five...Can't say I agree with 4, but four out of five ain't bad. <br /><br />Did you see the story about the Dutchman arrested for wearing a pink fluffy pig hat? So 6) to protect free speech. Ken Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08207803092348071005noreply@blogger.com